Thurs 30 Sept

Arm is a little downhill today. Should have taken ibuprofen yesterday afternoon but didn't. Arm got really tired by evening. Will definitely take a dose before Bootstrap today. Food: 7:50 am Costco butter cinnamon loaf, 102 g blackberries, coffee

Wed 29 Sept

Continuing to see improvement in the shoulder/arm every day. Massage from Mary felt wonderful and she gave me good insights as well. Am returning in two weeks for another dose. Food: 8:10 am 2 cider donuts, 102 g blackberries, coffee

Tues 28 Sept

Arm/shoulder continues to improve, but still a ways to go. Shower went better this morning. I don't take ibuprofen or anythimg at bedtime til I wake up feeling soreness. That didn't happen til after 5:00 but I needed CBD cream as well. Food: 8:05 am 2 cider donuts, 102 g blackberries, coffee

Mon Sept 27

Opted out of a shower this morning as I'm just home today and my hair still feels pretty clean. The rest of the grooming routine and getting dressed takes enough energy as it is. Also reminding myself to squat when I bend down for things. I had been bending from the waist because I was so focused on my arm/shoulder that I was actually making it more difficult. Food: 7:50 am Chocolate knot, 104 g blackberries, coffee

Sun 26 Sept

All in all, it was a good trip to the North Shore, Color was close to peak, thoygh not as intense as last year. The cottage at MacArthur's was small and simple, but met all our needs. We had a couple of days of amazing weather, and when it rained, it was at convenient times to hunker down at the cabin. Down side was that I took a tumble hitting my foot on some uneven sidewalk returning from downtown and blanded mostly on my right shoulder which has left me with some temporary incapacities. Showering this morning was an exhausting activity. Yesterday I didn't even attempt it. Food: 8:35 am Chocolate knot, 104 g blackberries, coffee

Sun 19 Sept

Here we go! Off to the North Shore for leaf-peeping and hiking and a week of relaxation. Looking forward to a new cottage to try, hoping it will be fun and pleasant. So delighted that my Decatholon merino hiking gloves and new shirt arrived ahead of schedule so I can take them with me on the trip. And when we return, I'll have pumpkin spice coffee to look forward to! Food: 6:35 am Cherry danish, 104 g blackberries, coffee

Sat 18 Sept

Lovely autumnal morning to walk to the Market. Cole told us that the winter market will be at the Boys and Girls Club on Michigan Ave this year so we can walk there also when weather permits. Food: 9:00 am Mixed berry Antwerp square, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Fri 17 Sept

Bob continues to catch mice most every night. God only knows how many of them we have in the house. I was proud of myself for managing to fix the buckle on my favorite belt bag yesterday. I found a replacement buckle at Fleet Farm and managed to attach it, hopefully securely. Food: 7:55 am Honey bear, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Thurs 16 Sept

More sunshine and pleasant temps today - lovely entry into fall. Still no walk with Kathy as she is playing it safe at home, but she tests again tomorrow and expects it will be negative. Food: 7:55 am Kouign amann, 104 g blackberries, coffee

Wed 15 Sept

Looks like a lovely sunny day today. Unfortunately the fairly large bugs decided it was a good day to shelter in my bathroom. Disturbed a large centipede when I moved my scale to use it and found a large hornet on the inside of the screen in the window. Food: 8:05 am Caramel apple danish, 102 g blackberries, coffee

Tues 14 Sept

Quite a bit of rain in the night, good since I haven't been conscientious about watering the plants outside. Now I can forget about it again for awhile. Food: 7:45 am Apricot danish, 104 g blackberries, coffee

Mon 13 Sept

Brisk, cool morning with sunshine. Potential hiking days Tues, Wed or Thurs. Didn't get out to Hartman's Creek yesterday, mostly due to a misunderstanding. Bob didn't seem interested when I initially mentioned it so I left him to his own devices, not realizing that he had packed his gear and then noticed I was doing Duo so said nothing. By the time we straightened it out, it was really a bit late so we tried a walk to the back of Schmeeckle which we aborted part way due to a few rain drops that didn't increase after all. Food: 8:00 am Cheese danish, 105 g blackberries, coffee

Sun 12 Sept

Walk for Hope went very well yesterday, and it was a beautiful end-of-summer day. We had grilled German brats (which seem pretty indistinguishable from hot dogs, if you ask me), potato salad, and corn-on-the-cob for dinner. Summer marches on! Food: 7:50 am Cherry danish, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Sat 11 Sept

Beautiful morning to walk to the Farmer's Market and load up on pastries for the week. David was there, not having slept since he got up at 7 am yesterday. He wasn't too chatty, understandably so. Food: 7:55 am Mixed berry Antwerp square, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Fri 10 Sept

Beautiful, sunny, cool temps weather continues. We are so blessed. Should be able to hang my laundry on the line today. Food: 7:55 am Chocolate croissant, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Thurs 9 Sept

No walk with Kathy today; she's staying in because John tested positive for Co-Vid. He's just mildly ill at this point, and we pray that the vaccine helps to keep it that way. Kathy tested negative, but is sleeping in a separate room and will probably get re-tested soon to make sure. Got my new Allbirds yesterday in a deep red that I absolutely love. Also got my new iPad and watched an episode of GBBS with exceptional quality and no glitches. Also it's the same size as the old Fire so it fits perfectly into the old case! Food: 7:55 am Kouign amann, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Wed 8 Sept

Weird dreams last night of driving off a steep cliff and being aware during the fall (never took it to the end). Also more dreams about Simon and Bess, very sad. It will be good to see how the authors resolve the difficulties of getting them together happily. I can only see the obstacles at this point. Food: 8:00 am Caramel apple danish, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Tues 7 Sept

Need to make real progress in my new Bess book as I didn't sleep well most of last night trying to figure out how Bess and Simon could make it work with their relationship. Amazing how caught up I can find myself in the lives of fictional characters that I have come to care about. Had a wonderful hike yesterday finally discovering Timm's Hill west of Tomahawk. Unfortunately the good restaurant near the park is only open Wed-Sun and yesterday was a Monday so they were closed. We found a bar and grill in Tomahawk with outdoor tables where we had a good dinner at the end of the hike, sustaining ourselves with granola bars and trail mix for "lunch". Food: 7:45 am Apricot danish, 108 g blackberries (starting to mold), coffee

Mon 6 Sept

Had a wonderful weekend in Minneapolis and a great birthday. Kurt and Barb took us to a fun place, the Sample House, for dinner. Had a really good burger and excellent fries w/parmesan. Let Bob eat some, but had to tell him to stop 3 times because he thought he could eat them all. Got birthday texts from both of my children! Michael's was at bedtime because his phone was dead all day and he was out on the lake with Taylor's family. Laura's came on the drive to Mpls and was very pleasant. It was great to get back to the Fair this year. It was quite uncrowded when we got there around 9 am. No line at the crepe place! They didn't have asparagus this year, but we had mushroom and Swiss crepes that were equally delicious. I had Island Coleslaw w/teriyaki chicken at lunch which was a bed of three huge scoops of coleslaw with little pieces of chicken and sauce laid across the middle. I tried mightily and shared some with Bob, but I just couldn't eat that much coleslaw, even though it was very good with mandarin oranges and pea pods mixed in. Nitro ice cream with hot fudge was dessert. The only other food we indulged in was the bucket of Sweet Martha's cookies to bring home. We got all fresh cookies in ours, so I indulged in probably half a dozen before I put them aside, but I might have eaten a few more in the car on the way home. We stopped at Costco on the way out of town to get glucosamine and chocolate cupcakes for my birthday. Fell into bed just past 8:30 last night from exhaustion from walking around the fair. Close to 20,000 steps on the day after a similar count the day before from a walk with Kurt and Barb and a walk to church. Didn't get up this morning til about 7:15 am. Feeling more normal today. Food: 8:10 am Cherry danish, 102 g blackberries, coffee

Fri 3 Sept

One last day to be 65. It's been quite a good year in most ways, culminated by this excellent vacation trip to Maine and Vermont. To the best of my knowledge, our whole family has managed to avoid contracting Co-Vid and they have all been extremely sensible in their prevention efforts. I thank God for watching over us and keeping us safe. Food: 7:50 am 2 slices Costco butter cinnamon loaf, 102 g blackberries, coffee

Thurs 2 Sept

Busy day today. Walk with Kathy, meeting for Walk for Hope, early extra Bootstrap shift plus normal shift. I'll likely be tired by the end of this day. Food: 7:45 am 2 slices Costco butter cinnamon loaf, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Wed 1 Sept

Finished my very satisfying Wrexford and Sloane book last night. Ready to launch into the new Bess Crawford book today! Enjoying being back home and cooking and eating more normally. Had a good massage from Mary yesterday, back to Pump today. Food: 7:55 am Costco cinnamon loaf (2 slices), 101 g blackberries, coffee